Chapter III THE DIVINE LIFE IN THE CHILD “The very Pulse of the Machine.”—It is evident we have not yet reached “The very pulse of the machine.”Habits, feeling, reason, conscience—we have followed these into the inmost recesses of the child’s life; each acts upon the other, but what acts upon the last: what acts upon them …
Chapter II THE CONSCIENCE Conscience is Judge and Lawgiver.—But the will by no means carries on the government of the kingdom of Mansoul single-handed. True, the will wields the executive power; it is only by willing we are enabled to do; but there is a higher power behind,p.330whose mandate the will does no more than express. Conscience sits supreme in …
PART VI THE WILL.—THE CONSCIENCE—THE DIVINE LIFE IN THE CHILD ——♦♦—— Chapter I THE WILL Government of Mansoul.—We have now to consider a subject of unspeakable importance to every being called upon to sustain a reasonable life here, with the hope of the fuller life hereafter; I mean, the government of the kingdom of Mansoul. …
Chapter XXI PICTORAL ART Study of Pictures.—The art training of children should proceed on two lines. The six-year-old child should begin both to express himself and to appreciate, and his appreciation should be well in advance of his power to express what he sees or imagines. Therefore it is a lamentable thing when the appreciation …
Chapter XX FRENCH French should be acquired as English is, not as a grammar, but as a living speech. To train the ear to distinguish and the lips to produce the French vocables is a valuable part of the education of the senses, and one which can hardly be undertaken too soon. Again, all educated …
Chapter XIX GRAMMAR Grammar a Difficult Study.—Of grammar, Latin and English, I shall say very little here. In the first place, grammar, being a study of words and not of things, is by no means attractive to the child, nor should he be hurried into it. English grammar, again, depending as it does on the position and logical connection …
Chapter XVIII HISTORY A Storehouse of Ideas.—Much that has been said about the teaching of geography applies equally to that of history. Here, too, is a subject which should be to the child an inexhaustible storehouse of ideas, should enrich the chambers of his House Beautiful with a thousand tableaux, pathetic and heroic, and should …
Chapter XVII GEOGRAPHY Geography is, to my mind, a subject of high educational value; though not because it affords the means of scientific training. Geography does present its problems, and these of the most interesting,p.272and does afford materials for classification; but it is physical geography only which falls within a compendium of the results of …
Chapter XVI NATURAL PHILOSOPHY A Basis of Facts.—Of the teaching of Natural Philosophy, I will only remind the reader of what was said in an earlier chapter—that there is no part of a child’s education more important than that he should lay, by his own observation, a wide basis of facts towards scientific knowledge in the future. He …
Chapter XV ARITHMETIC Educative Value of Arithmetic.—Of all his early studies, perhaps none is more important to the childp.254as a means of education than that of arithmetic. That he should do sums is of comparatively small importance; but the use of those functions which ‘summing’ calls into play is a great part of education; so …
